Thursday, January 05, 2017

After
sundown on January 5th is ‘Twelfth Night’, the eve of Epiphany.
There has been a long tradition of special cakes to mark the end of the Twelve
Days of Christmas, and today I bring you a rhyming recipe from The
Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser (West Yorkshire, England), Saturday,
December 21, 1867

TWELFTH CAKE

To two pounds of flour –
well sifted – unite

Of loaf-sugar, ounces sixteen;

Two pounds of fresh butter,
with eighteen fine eggs,

Add four pounds of currants
washed clean;

Eight ounces of almonds,
well blanched and cut small,

The same weight of citron
slice;

Of orange and lemon peel,
candied one ounce,

Or a little less, perhaps,
may suffice;

A large nutmeg grated; about
half an ounce

Of allspice, but only a
quarter

Of mace, coriander, and
ginger well ground

Or pounded to dust in a mortar

An important addition is cinnamon which

Is better increased than diminished –

The fourth of an ounce is sufficient. Now this

May be baked four hours until finished.

Other
recipes for food for Twelfth Day can be found in previous
posts: